"Humph! You think that will stop me!?" Mel quickly jumped back up and hugged Kana's arm again. Creige once again frowned and reached out to toss the annoying woman away, only to be dodged after every turn. It was quite amazing how she was able to dodge Creige and yet not let go of Kana's arm in the process.
Camlia held her head with her hand as she let out a sigh. "I knew this would happen. Kana, I am sorry, but Mel has a thing for beautiful girls, and you are right in her strike zone. If she gets annoying, just knock her out and drag her around like a sack of potatoes. She will not dodge your attacks."
"I will remember that. For now, let's get going, Creige. You hold my other arm. We do not know what is going to happen, so this is better than being separated." Kana said, causing Creige to stop trying to grab Mel. He frowned, but if Kana was okay with it, he would not say anything. Mel smiled mockingly and stuck her tongue out at Creige, only to have her tongue grabbed by Kana. "Stick your tongue out at him again, and I will feed you to whatever those darkling things are, do you understand?"
"Yes'th!" Mel's eyes were filled with fear as she quickly answered yes and nodded her head.
"Here, take this..." Camlia handed over an item that looked like a black rock. "Crush it, and it will teleport you and those around you back to my castle. Only use it if you have no choice."
"Thanks, Big Sister. We will be as careful as we can." Kana said with a smile as she put the black rock into her pocket. "We are off then."
"Mmm.." Camlia stood back. She could only hope everything works out.
Kana with Creige locking arms with her on her left and Mel locking arms with her on the right. "Aoi water barrier, please."
"On it!" Aoi appeared in front of Kana and waved her hand, causing a bubble to surround the three of them.
Kana took a deep breath and stepped through the barrier with Creige and Mel. When they did, Aoi's barrier acted as a shield that pushed the Darklings that were leaving against the barrier back. "They can't seem to break through the barrier, at least. Aoi, how are you doing?"
"Fine for now, but I don't think I can hold this for too long. We need to find a less dense area where we can fly up, or we will be covered in these disgusting creatures." Aoi really seemed to be struggling.
"Okay, then we will push forward. Aoi, if you can't hold on anymore, let me know." Kana said as she picked up her pace. "Criege, do you have any kind of barrier that can help Aoi out?"
"I do, but if I use it, we would not be able to see where we are going." Creige frowned. He could help, but it would block their view. and as it was, they did not have much sense in the direction they were heading.
"Then we have no choice… Aoi, try to hold on for a bit longer."
The group pushed through as fast as they could until finally, the area above them became slightly clear. Only then did Kana grip Creige's hand tight as she jumped up and flew above the black mass of darklings. At the same time as they did, Aoi's barrier collapsed, and Aoi, completely exhausted, floated over to Kana's shoulder to rest. "That was close…."
"You did well, Aoi." Kana said, patting Aoi's head. "But these things do not seem interested in us in the slightest. Are they only drawn to light?"
"From what we have tested so far, yes, they only seem to react to light and will try to consume it. It's very strange because they seem to ignore everything else. But if anything touches them, they will begin to dissolve." Mel explained.
"No wonder it was taking me so much of my mana to hold that barrier up. I had to keep repairing it over and over." Aoi explained. She had felt like her barrier was slowly disappearing, and in order to keep it up, she had to feed it more mana and collect more water molecules from the air. It was the never ending task of repairing that was draining her completely.
"This makes things difficult then since we will need light to see where we are going." Kana frowned. The whole area was pitch black, so dark that Kana could barely see her own hand in front of her face.
"Kana is right. With the little light that hell is giving us now, it will only grow weaker the further away we get. I can only suggest tossing out balls of fire as we go, but they might be drained quickly." Mel really had no solution to this problem, and right now, it was too late to return.
"We can only try." Kana waved her hand, sending out a fireball towards the ground. But before it even hit, the fireball was sucked in by something and disappeared. "This will be a problem... Wait... I think I have a way..."
---
"This is the third town..." Kiliffia pouted as she looked around. The humans in this town were not happy to see two beastkin walking around this town, but they did not dare do anything with the pressure Fox High God Methiesee was giving off. "Methie, what should we do? There are still no signs of my father anywhere."
"We can only keep looking around. We are bound to find clues to your father's whereabouts or at least places that he has been. If you want, I can contro..." Fox High God Methiesee words were interrupted when Kiliffia covered his mouth with her hands.
"No. You already suggested that, and I said we will not resort to such means." Kiliffia cheeks were puffed out, her ears were twitching, and her fluffy tail wagged back and forth. From every perspective that Fox High God Methiesee looked he found nothing but fluffy cuteness. "What are you smiling at?"
"Haha, I just find you very cute." Fox High God Methiesee said as he pinched Kiliffia's cheek. His actions, causing her to blush and slap his hand away.
"Enough, let's keep searching."